Its status as a capital of finance may provide visitors with their first impression of the city but there's a lot more to Frankfurt than money matters, writes EMMA CULLINAN
BANKFURT THEY call it, and Mainhatten. A play on words that ties the name of the city’s Main river (pronounced “mine”) to the skyscrapers in the west of Frankfurt. And it’s those assertive New Yorkish towers – flagging Frankfurt’s status as a capital of finance – that give first impressions as you arrive in the city; in my case on the €3.90 train, five stops from the airport.
The second World War dictated the look of Frankfurt, home of the European Central Bank. The towers that shout above the city, cleverly clustered in a testament to thoughtful planning, began to be built in the 1950s after Germany’s former financial hub, Berlin, was cut off by military division.
The war also tore out the half-timbered houses at the historical heart of Frankfurt – it was bombed during March 1940 – although the red, squat cathedral was left standing. “It was a useful navigational guide for the bombers,” said one local, who added that religious sentiments could have helped save it too.
Yet in the city’s main square of Roma berg (meaning Roman mountain, “Okay, so we exaggerated,” explained one man, referring to the berg’s lowly mound-like contours) you will find half-timbered buildings arranged around a cobbled square.
So ancient, so 1980s – which was when the city recreated its historical structures, in a controversial move (the Italian Renaissance-style concert hall was also reconstructed after the war).
So there’s the irony, that certain “old” buildings in the centre of Frankfurt were constructed after many of the modern skyscrapers. The square used to be a car park, but now it is a chocolate-box piazza with cafes around its edge.
It may not be authentic but it’s better than a city-centre parking lot, the locals point out, saying that they call it “the living room” because of its cosiness and sociability, or “gemütlichkeit”.
And while Frankfurt has smoothly plastered, mean-windowed, boring pale orange and green late-20th century residential buildings and “ancient” structures that are just too smooth – lacking the characteristic worn steps and edges, bent by being brushed with human feet and hands over centuries – it is the scale at ground level that makes this a city to enjoy.
As you walk around, and sit out on pavement cafes, it all feels human oriented. There are newspapers and magazines in most cafes, and consistently great coffee, which encourages you to lounge and listen.
IT WASN’T always thus and the transformation from traffic- friendly to people-pleasing began about a decade ago. Former traffic corridors have had the brakes put on them. Squares are quaint-sized; central streets are pedestrianised – catering for the many mini food-and- drink festivals that erupt onto wooden tables beside portable eateries and permanent cafes.
Benches, trees and coffee bars run along the centre of wide retail boulevards – such as the Zeil – (so shoppers don’t leave straight after a purchase, says one man cynically, but can sit and think about what they will buy next).
Cycle tracks and paths run along the Main river and around the green ring that encircles the heart of the city, following its former walls.
When you have facilities like this in a town people become more free – the place has been given to them to move around in, for work and play.
Although strict parameters are in place too: German rules and obedience are in evidence, for instance at pedestrain lights walkers wait on a “red man” even if there is no traffic in sight. It’s easy to be a rebel here: you just cross the road before the walkers’ lights turn green.
Frankfurt’s circular park skirts the towering financial district and is a venue for picnic lunches: where homeless people eat on benches beside bankers says a woman who has lived in the city for 10 years. That is just one reason why, to quote her tattered cliche: “Frankfurt is a city of contrasts”.
And, although Frankfurt exudes the money that bank workers from around the world come here to shift about (not too much for Ireland mind), the city has its rougher edges.
For instance, the Saturday flea market in the east dock is not a place of charming vintage pieces – although you can find them if you dig – it is where people really are selling whatever they can to make money: from old clothes, to electrical equipment whose wires knit together across the ground-level stalls which punters tug about. If you want an old bike, this market is the place, they are everywhere.
For actual classic German 20th century designs – such as the pieces for Braun by Dieter Rams (which are said to have inspired Apple designs decades later) – you can go to the vintage shops in town such as Classics Direct on Kurt-Schumacher Strasse just to the north of the old bridge (Alte Brucke).
You will pay good money for these and – as one man pointed out as I looked in the Selected Interiors designer shop window on Fahrgasse Street – “people with money want to buy nice things”.
The flea market alternates, from one Saturday to the next, between the city centre and this east dock. It used to be in the centre every week, on the river-side museum embankment, but these institutions apparently pushed for it to be with them just fortnightly in case it put off their punters. Strange, I thought many culture-seekers loved both museums and markets. Maybe it’s different when you’re rich.
We take the bus back from the east dock market and meet a Greek woman who’s brought her kids up here, saying she feels at home in this city because of its multiculturalism (around half of the city’s residents come from abroad).
THERE IS EDGE to be had in Frankfurt, but some citzens want more of it and there are moves afoot to enourage artists into the city centre – to those gritty places that freethinkers are prepared (or can only afford) – to live and work in.
These include the red light district near the station (full of tacky sex shops and clubs with English names such as Sexy show and Sky casino) – and in the east dock where former containers and warehouses are to be turned into studios and loft apartments. Also linking business with creativity is the city’s status as Germany’s advertising capital.
And one example of how the citizens are prepared to be daring and not bow to health and safety legislators is the Paternoster lift that still runs in Fleming’s hotel on Eschenheimer Anlage. It revolves permanently and there are no doors, so you just hop on as it passes your floor. It goes at a fair lick – it has to go fast enough to take you to the top of the building in decent time – so is not for the floppy of foot.
We hopped off at the top screeching, not sure what would happen if we stayed on to follow the lift over the top and down the other side. It’s okay, a member of staff assured us, it won’t chop your head off. So we scrambled back on and went over the lift shaft, through the dark.
It’s worth getting out at the top floor, though, to see the views of the Mainhattan skyscrapers and perhaps quaff cocktails (€9.50 each or €6 for a prosecco) on the balcony or eat in the classy, glassy restaurant. And that’s Frankfurt: smart but accommodating with over-the-top elements.
Frankfurt where to . . .
Stay
Value: Lloyed Hotel, Heidelberger Strasse 3, 00-49-69-677-36730. On quiet road close to the railway station. Clean, comfortable hotel with welcoming staff. From €39 for a single and €49 for a double.
Mid-market:Twenty Five Hours Hotel, Niddastrasse 58, 00-49-69-256-6770, 25hours-hotels.com. Colourful, relaxed hotel with a playful interior designed by Levi's. It is in a central spot close to the main train station. Includes a roof terrace with lounge furniture where BBQs, concerts and chats happen. From €75.
Upmarket:Rocco Forte Villa Kennedy, Kennedyallee 70, Frankfurt, 00-49-69-717-120, villakennedy.com. Gorgeous hotel in a former merchant's house which has been extended, with exquisite attention to detail, to create a vast enclosed courtyard where you can eat breakfast in the sun beside a pool, or dine beneath the stars. The spa is in natural materials of tiles, stone and timber for serenity and class. This is where the stars – such as Tom Jones – come to chill, along with the German football team. Rates start at €550 a night, but watch for off-peak deals at €250 B&B for two, with full use of the spa.
Eat
Value: Im Hertzen Afrikas, Gutleutstrasse 13, 00-49-69-242-46080, im-herzen-afrikas.de. This restaurant has sand on the floor, low tables and billowing fabric on the ceiling and walls to evoke a tent. It serves traditional African food with mixes of meat, beans and vegetables with spices for about €7 for a main dish.
Mid-market:Casa Nova, Stresemann Allee 59, 00-49-69-632-473, casanova-frankfurt.de. Home-made pasta and meat and fish dishes served by attentive, pleasant staff in a relaxed atmosphere. Run by the same family since the mid-1970s. Pasta from €7-€14 and meat and fish from €17.50.
Upmarket:Alte Oper Frankfurt Restauration, Opernplatz 1, 00-49-69-134-0215, opera-restauration.de. Restaurant in the Italian Renaissance-style concert hall that was rebuilt after the second World War. Ornate dining room laced with gold plaster. If it's warm get a table on the balcony overlooking the piazza. Serves pasta, meat (steaks a speciality) and fish dishes arranged fancily on the plate, for about €20-€40 for main courses. Sunday brunch – at €33 a head – is popular.
Go
There are 13 museums in Frankfurt, most of which are either side of the river. The Museum of Modern Art (MMK Museum fur Moderne Kunst), Domstrasse 10, 00-49-69-2123-0447, mmk-frankfurt.de) was designed by Hans Holein and is known as a “piece of cake” because of its wedge shape. Goethe-Haus Frankfurt, (Grosser Hirschgraben 23-25, 00-49-69-138-800, goethehaus-frankfurt.de) is the house (rebuilt after the war) where the writer grew up and tells the story of his life and work.
Hot spot
SilkBed Restaurant (and Cocoon Club) Carl-Benz-Strasse 21, 00-49-69-900-200, hoeren-sehen-schmecken.net.
In this restaurant and techno club – complete with resident DJ – you lie down on huge white sofas and lounge chairs while being served a 10-course meal.
Shop spot
Goethestrasse for the big name international designers, Zeil for department stores and retail chains, and the MyZeil shopping centre, whose glass front looks as if a large football has been kicked through it. It contains Germany’s first Hollister shop which saw queues out the door when it first opened. The indoor market at the Kleinmarkthalle on Hasengasse 5-7, opens Monday to Saturday, selling all sorts of food and has places to sit, drink wine (€1.50 a glass) and mensch watch. There’s also a twice-weekly farmer’s market (Thursday and Saturday) at Konstablerwache.
Go there :Aer Lingus (aerlingus.com) flies from Dublin to Frankfurt. Ryanair (ryanair.com) flies from Dublin to Frankfurt-Hahn, 120km from the city